Richard Gere is one of our foremost American actors, known for his roles
in films such as ``Pretty Woman,'' ``An Officer and a Gentleman,'' ``Days
of Heaven,'' ``American Gigolo,'' ``Yanks,'' ``Internal Affairs,'' ``Primal
Fear'' and ``First Knight.'' Most recently, Gere starred in the political
thrillers ``Red Corner'' and ``The Jackal,'' with Bruce Willis and Sidney
Poitier.

Gere began acting at the University of Massachusetts, where he was a
philosophy major. After spending full sessions with the Provincetown Playhouse
and Seattle Repertory Theatre, he performed in a number of New York plays,
notably the title role in ``Richard Farina: Long Time Coming and Long Time
Gone,'' in addition to two plays by Sam Shepard, ``Back Bog Beast Bait''
and ``Killer's Head.'' Gere's career was established with performances
in the Broadway rock opera ``Soon'' and the New York production of the
British farce ``Habeas Corpus,'' and he won widespread recognition playing
Danny Zuko in the Broadway and London productions of the hit musical ``Grease.''
An accomplished classical actor, Gere's many credits include the Lincoln
Center presentation of ``A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and London's Young
Vic Theatre production of ``The Taming of the Shrew.''

Gere's motion picture debut came in 1978 with the Oscar®-honored
``Days of Heaven,'' for which he received the Italian equivalent of the
Academy Award(TM). His subsequent films include ``Looking for Mr. Goodbar''
with Diane Keaton, ``Bloodbrothers,'' John Schlesinger's ``Yanks'' and
``American Gigolo.'' He returned to the Broadway stage in ``Bent,'' winning
the Theatre World Academy Award and rave reviews for his role as a homosexual
prisoner at the Dachau concentration camp who loses his life rather than
deny his identity.

Gere starred in the 1982 blockbuster film ``An Officer and a Gentleman,''
followed by ``Breathless,'' ``Beyond the Limit,'' ``The Cotton Club,''
``Power,'' ``No Mercy'' and ``Miles From Home.'' In 1990, Gere received
critical acclaim for his portrayal of a corrupt cop in the Mike Figgis-directed
``Internal Affairs,'' and he starred opposite Julia Roberts in the year's
top-grossing picture, ``Pretty Woman.'' The following year, he made a guest
appearance in Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's ``Rhapsody in August.''
He is now actively involved in developing projects and has executive produced
some of his more recent films, including ``Final Analysis,'' ``Mr. Jones''
and ``Intersection.'' Gere was the first actor to agree to appear in ``And
the Band Played On,'' the HBO adaptation of Randy Shilts' book about the
first five years of AIDS in America. Gere played the role of a fictional
choreographer.

An outspoken human rights advocate, Gere has done much to draw attention
to the tragedy that has been unfolding in Tibet under Chinese occupation.
He is founding chairman of Tibet House in New York and has testified on
Tibet's behalf before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee on Tibet. ``Pilgrim,'' Gere's book of his photographs
of the Tibetan people, was published in 1997 by Little, Brown & Company,
with all of the author's proceeds going to Tibetan charities through the
Gere Foundation. Gere recently volunteered in the Albanian refugee camps
helping the survivors of Kosovo.

Richard Gere is the 220th person to be honored and joins such illustrious
stars as Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, Kirk Douglas and
Fred Astaire.

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